


Cause suddenly I need you

by Feathercrown



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bisexuality, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Swearing, a tiny bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 23:58:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4119286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feathercrown/pseuds/Feathercrown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis Tomlinson, self declared king of Pranks knows how to recognise a prank from miles away. But what would happen if he found out his best friend is planning on pulling a prank on him, one that isn't even funny to begin with? The answer is: he gets revenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cause suddenly I need you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rangifertarandus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangifertarandus/gifts).



> So Rangifertarandus, this is for you. This story is based on your first prompt, I hope you'll enjoy it and that it doesn't disappoint!
> 
> When I started writing this story I had no clue where it was going to go, but I definitely didn't think it would become this huge thing. Writing it has been a huge process and I want to give massive massive thanks to my lovely handholder. You have no idea how much it meant to me to have you hold my hand throughout it all and for listening to my struggles. I'm pretty sure this story wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. So thank you so much and you have no idea how happy I am to be calling you one of my friends now! <3

**Nick:** He was going to die. Nick was fairly certain of that. Even though he is not one to be easily embarrassed and he has done a lot of embarrassing things, this easily topped everything. On a scale of one to ten on being embarrassing this was a twenty. Nick felt mortified and that wasn’t an emotion that came to him often. And the thing is, there was no way he would be able to turn this around into a joke. There was absolutely no way he could laugh this off. And to make things even worse, he has probably ruined one of his closest friendships because of it, there would be absolutely no way he could ever look his friend in the eye ever again. And all because he had wanted to add some light reading to his wank bank for later that evening.  
  
Also, Nick knew how to work technology, he did. His phone barely left his hand, so he really couldn’t understand how it had been able to fail him this time. He had meant to send best friend Harry Styles a link to an adorable article about cute kittens in strange sleeping positions that he had come across earlier and thought Harry would enjoy.

What had happened instead that apparently he didn’t copy the link properly and had ended up sending Harry the link to one of the smuttiest Tomlinshaw fanfics that he had been able to find. He had only meant to save the link in one of his note apps, so one of his many curious friends wouldn’t find it while snooping through his phone. He definitely hadn’t meant to send it to anyone else and especially not to Harry Styles. Harry who was not only one of his best friends but bandmate and best friend of a certain Louis Tomlinson too. He would never be able to live this down.

* * *

**Harry:** This was the best day ever. Sure, he wasn’t too pleased about the early morning and the endless string of interviews facing him. But it wasn’t enough to ruin his mood, not after the bit of information that he had just received. It would take something seriously dramatic to ruin this.

It was in between two interviews that he’d had a little time to check his phone when he saw the string of messages Nick Grimshaw had sent him. Considering that the messages consisted of mostly emoticons it was obvious that they were meant as a distraction to get something so far up that it wasn’t visible on his screen at first glance.

Harry figured that Nick had sent him a message that was meant for someone else and normally he would let this slide but after answering what his favourite colour was in four different interviews he could do with some entertainment and scrolled up towards the first message.

_‘Good morning Harold, thought you might enjoy this’_ it said and included was a link to a website. The message confused him slightly seeing as it was in fact addressed to him and not to someone else. Without thinking about it he clicked to open the link, sending each other links with cute video’s or articles they thought the other would find interesting was something they often did after all.

It didn’t even seem special at first, just some big lap of text. Curious to see what it was Harry started to scroll through it until Louis his name caught his eye, he decided to take a closer look and stumbled across a sentence in which, described in very graphic detail, Louis was on his knees going down on Nick and with a very manly squeak Harry dropped his phone out of his hands.

This would scar him for life. He was sure of it. This was something he would never be able to unread and this was something he desperately wanted to unread.

That is until he took a minute to process and realise what this meant. Nick thought the idea of him and Louis having sex was hot. That must mean that Nick Grimshaw had a crush on Louis. With a smug grin forming on his face Harry went to pick up his phone from the floor, ideas of how to set Louis and Nick up already forming in his head. This was going to be great.

Not only did Louis needed to get laid, he could do with something serious and everyone knew Nick could do with a boyfriend too. They would be good together, Harry had always thought so. Sure, both of them were really loud and they would bicker all the time, always battling for the last word. But Harry also knew their soft spots and when given a chance Harry was positive that they would like each other. Unfortunately neither of them had agreed with him on his opinion. Until now, because apparently Nick had changed his mind about Louis.

And besides, it would be great for him too. If they were together he wouldn’t have to split his precious time between the two of them anymore and could just go and see them at the same time.

It was a win-win situation really. Now he only needed to come up with the perfect plan.

* * *

**Louis:** It was just one of those days that were frustrating to no end and Louis couldn’t wait for the day to be over. It had started with his alarm clock going off at the ungodly hour of 7am and after pressing the snooze button way too many times Louis had barely made it out of bed before the car that was due to pick him up would arrive at 07:45. He had skipped breakfast in favour of a quick shower, which he was sure the other boys would be happy about. His stomach on the other hand, not so much.

He and the boys had a full schedule ahead of them with back to back interviews and promo for their newest book. They didn’t get a real break until lunch time and at that time Louis was practically starving. It was also around that time that Louis was starting to feel bored to death. One could only answer what their superhero power would be one too many times. So he had started playing little games with the boys to keep it fun, he gave them words to insert in their answers and pulled funny faces until the others couldn’t keep their faces straight anymore.

At the end of the day though, Louis had started to feel restless and he knew the others didn’t think his jokes were funny anymore but that he was annoying them to no end, but he just couldn’t stay still. Even Liam who would normally put up with all of his pranks had a sour look on his face whenever he opened his mouth.

To make things worse, Harry wouldn’t stop looking at him with this strange look on his face. It had started somewhere later that afternoon between two interviews after Harry had been fooling around on his phone. Louis really wasn’t sure what had triggered Harry to look at him like that, he only knew that it was freaking him out. He knew that he was a complete nuisance to the others but he didn’t think that he had done enough to warrant this look full of shock and wonder out of Harry.

And as if things weren’t back enough before, after finally completing their schedule for the day Louis and Harry were forced to share a car back home together since their houses were on the same route and Harry wouldn’t stop mentioning Nick fucking Grimshaw. Louis couldn’t stand the guy. It wasn’t anything that he did per se it was just that his mouth was too big and his hair was stupid and he wouldn’t stop bashing Louis on air. Louis didn’t even know what he had ever done wrong towards the guy. Apart from being his sarcastic wonderful self, really. Who knew that Nick wouldn’t appreciate jokes about his clothes.

After the car ride from hell Louis couldn’t wait to come home and unwind with a cold beer. And maybe a good wank. Though he would actually prefer it if he had someone to help him out with that. He hadn’t had sex in forever and he was starting to feel a bit lonely with only the company of his hand. It wasn’t even that he wouldn’t be able to pull, he could do that with his eyes closed nowadays, girls flocked him everywhere he went. It was just that he hadn’t been able to pull. At least not the gender that he wanted to pull.

And perhaps that was where the whole problem lay to begin with, Louis wouldn’t call himself gay exactly. He was still interested in girls, but at the moment he found himself more interested in the dick side of things. But being famous and in the closet put a slight damper on that, there was no way he could go to a gay club and not get recognised. He knew that surely there would be a way for him to have sex with a man and keep it a secret but he was too lazy to figure out how or to find a permanent fuckbuddy. He would do with his hand for now.

* * *

**Harry:** Harry figured the best way to set Nick and Louis up was to do some research first. He needed a plan. And that’s why Harry settled down on his sofa after changing into comfy joggers and thick woolly socks with some reheated leftovers, a good glass wine and his laptop.

He figured it would make sense to open up the website Nick had sent him first but thinking about the content he had read on that website left him shuddering, he could leave that site for later and opened up google instead. After a moment of consideration he typed in the obvious ‘How to get my two best friends to fall in love with each other’ and got exactly zero helpful results. His next google searches consisted of romantic dates, setting people up, how to be a matchmaker and eventually how to be a Disney prince.

Perhaps he would be able to get Nick onto a white horse and have him serenade Louis underneath his bedroom window. Harry was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to get Louis to wear a dress for the occasion, although he knew for sure that Louis would be able to pull it off. He did have the curves for it. But those were all worries for later.

After making sure he saved his file with notes on his research he got up for a quick toilet break and a refill of his wineglass. He stretched his limbs and quickly texted Nick a row of 6 birthday cakes and a few balloons since he was in a celebrating mood and even though he knew that Nick wouldn’t understand the meaning of his emoticons he was sure that Nick would appreciate him finally texting back after leaving him hanging after his string of messages.

He then went back to google and typed in their names to which google automatically replied with a _were you looking for: Nick Grimshaw Louis Tomlinson Tumblr_ option. Harry had a personal Tumblr himself and he almost slapped himself in the face when he saw the option, why didn’t he think of that before? Tumblr was going to be the answer to everything.

He sometimes used Tumblr to see what the One Direction fandom was thinking of his outfit choices and whether they preferred his hair down or in a bun. But mostly he used his own blog to post pictures of scenery that he took while traveling.

Through google he figured out that Nick and Louis actually had a shipname and considering that Nick had been able to find fanfiction written about them shouldn’t really come as a surprise to him. He opened up Tumblr and quickly logged onto his account before typing Tomlinshaw in the search bar. The first thing he came across was fanart based on the two of them, most of them a bit too explicit for his taste but a few others that are so adorable they make him aw out loud. Their fans are so talented really.

Next were the textposts with little ficlets and fic recommendations and Harry found himself getting lost while reading them, almost forgetting that he wasn’t reading about real life Nick and Louis. It’s just that they were so cute to read about and Harry was secretly very pleased that so many of their fans seem to agree with him. He was right in the middle of composing a list of fic links that Nick would most likely enjoy when he remembered that this wasn’t exactly the point of his search no matter how much he was enjoying himself reading about his best friends.

He switched back tabs to his Tumblr search and quickly scrolled down the page, eyes scanning the page for anything interesting. He actually had to scroll back up and do a double take when he noticed a picture of Nick and Louis together, which. How come he didn’t know about this? Had they been meeting up without telling him?

Harry could actually feel himself getting angry, how could they not have told him? And how did people on Tumblr find out before him? Scrolling down the page he only finds more pictures of them on actual outings and Harry has never felt this stupid before. How could he not have known this? Louis and Nick are his best friends and they didn’t even tell him they were together.

* * *

**Nick:** It had been almost four days after the day which Nick had lovingly dubbed ‘the day of mortification’ and Harry still hadn’t mentioned anything about it to him. No matter how grateful he felt about it, it was odd and slightly worrisome too. Throughout the past few days he and Harry had continued talking to each other as if nothing happened. So maybe, Harry hadn’t actually seen the message at all and Nick was nervous for nothing? It almost seemed too good to be true. He quickly tampered down his relief, not wanting to get his hopes up just yet.

Because the thing is, Nick knew Harry and he also knew that there was no way Harry would let this slide, and to be honest his distraction technique which had consisted mainly of row after row of emoticons wasn’t that good. If it were him getting all those messages he would’ve definitely scrolled up to see what the other person was trying to hide. Anyone would really.

In all honesty Nick was feeling pretty anxious about Harry’s reaction and the fact that he had dinner plans with him later that night didn’t help to calm him down at all. Like, Harry was one of his best friends but what if he had only agreed to come over to end their friendship because he couldn’t stand the idea of Nick reading about himself and Louis. Rationally he knew that Harry wouldn’t be as cruel as that, but Nick wasn’t rational at the best of times so he certainly wasn’t going to start now.

Something most people didn’t know about Harry was that he had quite a devious streak and he loved planning and plotting things. People always believed Louis to be the joker of the band but Nick knew that Harry was just as bad. And that was what had him slightly worried. On the plus side, after tonight he would know his destiny. Either this would be the end of him or he could breathe freely again.

As the night grew closer Nick could feel himself starting to sweat. Even Pig had picked up his distress and wouldn’t leave his side, demanding cuddles and gifting him with her favourite toys in an attempt to cheer him up. Nick was now surrounded by a stack of stuffed animals and squeaky things.

Harry was due to arrive any minute now and Nick didn’t think he had ever been this nervous before meeting up with him, he probably never had been to be quite honest. But this whole situation was turning him into a sweaty disgusting mess and even though he loved being around other people for once he couldn’t wait for this night to be over.

Harry arrived perfectly on time and not a hair was out of place on his head, he looked completely normal really. Harry wasn’t that good of a liar, it left him blushing and stuttering to no end whenever he tried, although after spending years in the entertainment industry Harry had been forced to get better at it and he had learned to keep a poker face in difficult situations. Nick felt like a poker face would come in quite handy in this particular situation.

As the night progressed Nick felt more out of his comfort zone than ever, he wasn't used to being the nervous type while being around his close friends and yet here he was with jittery hands and sweaty armpits. To keep himself from completely freaking out Nick had continuously been sipping wine ever since Harry had arrived, he was in no way drunk yet but he could feel himself getting slightly tipsy and to make things worse Harry still hadn't mentioned the text and Nick just didn't know how to behave anymore. Should he allow the small bit of relief that was trying to push through to get bigger or not. Perhaps he should just own up to it and ask Harry about it, but what if he really hadn't seen it, having to explain it now was just as embarrassing.

They had just finished the main course and had decided to wait a bit with dessert, both their stomachs full and in need of a bit of a break. Their conversation flowed freely between them and apart from some stilted moments where Nick hadn't been able to keep their nerves in check they had covered pretty much all topics ranging from sharks to this funny thing their mutual friend Alexa Chung had done.

Harry was right in the middle of a story about Emperor penguins finding true love, his voice had gotten this excited quality to it and Nick couldn't help but look fondly at him. Harry was adorable when he was passionate about something, his voice usually slow and deliberate became a little bit higher and he talked a little bit faster and he kept gesturing his hands around while trying to make his point about penguins mating for life.

It wasn't until Nick had taken a sip of his wine while doing his best to keep his hand from shaking, even Harry's adorable excitement wasn't enough to keep him distract when Harry dropped the bomb on him.

“So Grimmy, was sending me this porn story your and Louis' way of coming out as a couple to me?” What? “Because I would've preferred it if you did that without scarring me for life.”

Nick choked on his mouthful of wine and almost dropped his glass in the process but managed to safe it by putting it back on the table. He couldn't stop coughing and he could vaguely hear Harry continue talking about how happy he was for them and that that they were almost like the penguins. As if he hadn't just confirmed Nick's worst fears.

Oh god. This was it. Nick was sure of it, he was going to die. He could feel himself panicking, had breathing always been this difficult? He couldn't stop coughing, his lungs losing all air and he could hear his blood rushing through his ears, blocking all sounds until Harry's voice was just a background noise. Death by wine. Nick supposed there were worse ways to go.

He clutched at Harry's arm trying to get his attention. “Grimmy?” he tried to focus on Harry's face, who was looking at him with big eyes. “Oh god, are you okay? Come on, deep breaths Grim. Where's your puffer, mate?” Nick managed to lift his arm into the direction of his bathroom and Harry scrambled out of his chair to go and get it. He seemed to take forever but finally he knelt back in front of Nick, the puffer safely held in his hand. The coughing had slowed down a bit but Nick still couldn't get any air.

“Come on Nick, breathe with me,” he heard Harry say while taking a puff. The rush of oxygen running through his blood left him a bit light headed and all his limbs started to tingle. “that's it, deep breaths.” Harry encouraged him.

Nick could finally feel himself somewhat calm down but it still took a few minutes before his focus of Harry's worried face became completely clear.

“What was that all about then?” Harry finally asked when it became clear that Nick wasn't panicking anymore.

“I mean, there's no need to panic while telling me this. I understand that it's scary being in a relationship, especially with someone like Louis who's in the public eye all the time but you could've told me before you know. I wouldn't have gotten angry about it, I think it's great to be honest.” Harry started to ramble.

“What?” Nick squeaked. His voice all high and shot because of the lack of air earlier.

“You and Louis!” Harry exclaimed, “I'm not mad at all, I think it's great the two of you together. I just wish you would've told me before and I’m a bit disappointed about the public finding out about it before I did really.”

“What?” Nick asked again.

“What do you mean, what?” Harry started to look a bit confused now. “There’s proof of you two all over the Internet.”

What proof? “What proof?” Nick managed to get out, his voice still squeaked and he could feel himself starting to get lightheaded again.

“Of you and Louis, there's pictures of you embracing and holding hands all over the Internet.”

“What? No there's not, there can't be. Harry, we're not together, Louis and I.” Nick felt proud of himself for getting out a full sentence, he wasn't sure how to feel about this exactly and he needed some time to process.

“What?” this time it was Harry's turn to be confused about everything. “But I was so sure,” he started before cutting of his sentence. “I mean. What? Please explain.”

* * *

**Harry:** Nick at been acting weird ever since Harry had arrived earlier that evening. His movements had been jittery and he had eaten his dinner way to fast, probably without even tasting it, and was drinking wine at the same speed. It was a shame Harry thought. He had gotten all excited and very curious when Nick had told him earlier that he wouldn’t be making his signature quiche for once but that he would be trying some new dish. Nick hadn’t disappointed him, the dish had been great and Harry had noticed a significant improvement in Nick’s cooking skills. But hey, at least one of them had enjoyed it. As the meal continued Harry could see Nick's behaviour becoming more erratic, it was obvious that he was nervous and Harry almost started to feel bad about letting Nick stew in his nerves.

That is until he remembered what Nick and Louis had done to him. How could they have kept this a secret from him and most of all, how could they have gone public with it before telling their best friend. All feelings of guilt disappeared and to say that harry wasn't thoroughly amused by Nick's nerves would be an understatement. He usually wasn't this mean of a person and really didn't enjoy someone else's discomfort, but the situation really called for some payback so Harry decided to forgive himself for his behaviour this once.

It was in between dinner and desert that Harry decided he had tortured Nick enough, he’d been spending hours beforehand on figuring out the perfect way about bringing up the subject that had been on his mind ever since his research. And it wasn’t until he had been sat behind his computer giggling away for about 10 minutes about a penguin falling slipping on ice and the responding sounds from the other penguins earlier that day that an idea popped into his head, he vaguely remembered reading about Emperor penguins being monogamous somewhere and decided that it was the perfect opening to their conversation. Louis and Nick reminded him of penguins in a way anyhow and so it was that he began the conversation while babbling away about penguins and how cute they were until finally without any subtleness he asked whether Nick had meant the porn as a way for him and Louis to come out to him.

The reaction he got was not one he expected, though. Nick full on started to panic. Harry had expected him to look happy, or in love or even to laugh not to break out in panic. It had taken a while for Nick to finally calm down and the conversation that followed left Harry slightly baffled, apparently Louis and Nick weren’t together? Nick had some serious explaining to do.

They moved to the living room after that so they could be more comfortable for their chat and settled down on Nick’s sofa, Pig had followed them and was now stretched out between them on the sofa, keeping an eye on both of them. Harry had taken both their wine glasses and a new full bottle of wine with him to the living room, he had a feeling they were going to need it.

“So, if you and Louis aren’t together than what was that link all about, Grim? Because I’ll be honest, I wish I could unread what I read in that link.”

Nick turned bright red at that, interesting. “So, like, that link really wasn’t meant for you,” Nick covered his face with his hands. “God, where do I even start?” His voice came out muffled from behind his hands. “Okay, so I was on Tumblr a few weeks ago and sometimes I like to check my own name on there so see what people are saying about me, which on its own is embarrassing enough.” He took his hands away from his face and awkwardly placed them on top of his knees. Harry gestured for Nick to continue, he could sympathize with searching his own name, it was something he did too after all.

“I just, this picture of Louis and me showed up and you’ve seen them, right? You know how real some of them look and I know I would’ve remembered being papped with Louis and I didn’t. And I guess it just intrigued me, we looked good together alright, Louis and I.” If possible Nick turned even more red if possible. “And I decided to investigate it a little bit, but I didn’t mean to become obsessed with the idea, it just happened, I swear.”

Nick groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “Like objectively speaking I’ve always known Louis was pretty attractive right? But I never thought about him like this before, like, we don’t even like each other. So I don’t know how it changed but God, have you seen him? I mean, of course you have, you see him every day. Growing up did him good, not that he wasn’t always fit before but like I really wouldn’t mind getting a beard burn from him and those thighs I just wanna much on them, Haz.”

Whoa whoa whoa “Please stop talking,” Harry said with big eyes. “I get it, Louis is a good looking lad but really, too much information, mate.” Oh god, Harry had to face Louis tomorrow in the studio and it was awkward enough after having read even a sentence of the porn Nick had send him but now the mental images were all too real and he needed to change the topic as soon as possible.

“So um, you and Louis aren’t together then?” He asked.

“No, I just told you that.” Nick wouldn’t meet Harry’s eyes, doing his very best to look everywhere apart from Harry and his cheeks still had this lovely red tint to them.

“But you want to be, right?”

“I mean, yes? Like he’s just edible really and his eyes have this amazing colour that you just get lost in and did you see those pictures of him at his mum’s wedding because I swear to God he looked sinful in that suit of his and his ass was just accentuated so nicely in those dress pants.” Nick started rambling again. “And like, I normally don’t go for boys that I’m sure will end up hurting me and Louis is definitely someone who could hurt me because he’s all spikey and I like soft things not spikey things. But he has all those soft curves that I wouldn’t mind getting my mouth which makes me think that maybe he isn’t all that spikey at all. And even if he is, his smiles makes up for everything, he just lights up when he’s smiling and those - ”

“Oh for the love of anything holy, please stop Nick.” Harry quickly cut him off. “First of all, no I did not see those pictures.”

“I can show them to you?”

“Please don’t.”

“But -”

“I’m serious, please don’t. Besides, I was there with him, I know what he looked like.’ Harry really did not need to see pictures of Louis ass, objectively he knew that it was a great ass but Louis was like a brother to him and Nick explaining in great detail to him what he wanted to do to Louis’ his ass was horrifying enough.

“Oh god, so you witnessed Louis in that suit and it didn’t kill you? Did he look as good in real life as in those pictures? Because -” Nick was looking at Harry with big questioning eyes.

“Shut up,” Harry cut him off once more. “just please shut up, I won’t help setting you up if you don’t keep your mouth shut.”

* * *

**Nick:** “You’ll what?” Nick was a bit confused by it all. And to make things worse, he had never felt this embarrassed in his life before. Like, this was even worse than the _‘Day of mortification’_. The way he had gone on and on about Louis and what he wouldn’t mind doing to him. Oh God. And it’s not as if he had anyone else but himself to blame for it this time, no faulty technology or Harry prompting him to expand on his thoughts. No, it was just him and his big mouth that wouldn’t stop blabbing this time.

He was making such a big mess of this and wanted nothing more than to disappear right in this moment. Perhaps he could drown himself with his glass of wine. Death by wine still didn’t sound like the worst thing that could happen.

“But why?”

“Eh, purely selfish reasons really,” Harry waved the question away. “Now, we need to come up with a plan. Louis has boys and girls throwing themselves at him everywhere he goes so you need to be original. You need to stand out.”

“So, have you put any thought into how you want to do this?” Harry asked.

“Uh, no? Like, can’t I just ask him out for drinks or something?” Nick was still a bit baffled by it all. How did Harry still manage to look at him without being disgusted by him or thinking that he was a complete nutcase and why did he want to help him? What were his selfish reasons?

“No, you can’t. Come on Grimmy, have you not been listening to a thing I just said?”

“No, I have. But -”

“Okay, first of all we need a pen and paper.” Harry interrupted him once more. “Come on, chop chop. We don’t have all night. Oh and bring more wine too. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”

 

The next morning arrived with a hangover from hell and Nick found himself alone in bed which was disconcerting enough by itself considering Nick was sure he had gone to bed with Harry next to him.

Nick carefully sat up and felt around on his bedside table for his glasses, his head was pounding and he felt like the world was swimming around him if he moved too fast. With his glasses firmly in place he finally dared to open his eyes and his eyes fell on a glass of water and some Advil pills next to it, bless Harry.

He also noticed a note stuck to the glass written in Harry’s scribbly handwriting: _Duty calls, had to go, soz. Hope the hangover isn’t too bad. Thought of some more ideas, left the notepad in the kitchen. Love, H._

Instantly Nick’s brain was flooded by memories. ‘Oh my god.’ The feeling of shame seeped back into his veins and Nick wasn’t sure if he was feeling nauseas because of the hangover or because of the embarrassment. He got up out of bed in record time and barely made it to the bathroom before dropping to his knees and heaving into the toilet before him.

Tears threatened to spill out of the corners of his eyes. He had royally fucked it up now. Why had no one stopped him from talking? Except Harry totally had, hadn’t he? He had tried several times and yet he hadn’t stopping blabbing about Louis. Harry had probably only written the note to be kind with him because he knew that Nick doesn’t like waking up alone after falling asleep with someone next to him. He had probably just wanted to get out of the house before Nick woke up so he wouldn’t have to deal with awkward goodbyes.

The _day of mortification_ suddenly seemed very insignificant to everything Nick was feeling right now. Pig had rushed to his side once she had heard him move around and he tried his best to remember the breathing exercises he had learned in his latest yoga class to keep himself from panicking while holding her tightly in his arms. At least he had Pig, she wouldn’t ever leave him.

Once he managed to calm himself down enough that he felt like he wouldn’t keel over straight way when he got up, Nick slowly got to his feet and turned towards the sink. He splashed some water onto his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He couldn’t believe his life had come to this, almost 30, crushing on a boybander who he really didn’t stand a chance with and on the verge of losing one of his closest friends because of said boybander. This day couldn’t be over fast enough and it had only just started.

It wasn’t until Nick ventured towards the kitchen, with Pig following him on his heels, that he remembered the notepad that was hiding there. Instantly the feeling of dread overcame him. Harry had said that he had written down some more ideas but Nick wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what exactly was added to their list of ideas.

Carefully he peered around the corner and there it was, propped up against an empty wine bottle was his notepad. The sight of it scared Nick a little bit, it looked so innocent sitting there on his kitchen table, but that notepad could contain all his fears. What if Harry hadn’t written down more ideas but instead had left him a goodbye note? There were so many what ifs going through his head right now.

“I can do this,” Nick said to himself. “it’s just a notepad, really.”

Nick counted to three before quickly entering the kitchen and picking up the notepad. Written down on it was a list of date ideas for Louis and him. The list currently held 26 ideas, ranging from standard nice restaurant dinners to more outrageous ideas like bungee jumping, Nick wasn’t very fond of that last one to be honest.

Harry had added four more additions to the list:  
_\- Duck feeding_  
\- Stargazing  
\- Take him to the aquarium, Louis likes fish  
\- Take a sushi making workshop

Underneath the list Harry had left a little note for him, as if he knew Nick would be freaking out about everything.

_Stop stressing out, you haven’t scared me off. This is going to be great! Text me if you come up with more ideas. All the love, H._

Relief spread through his whole body, he hadn’t lost Harry. He quickly grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened a new text to Harry.

_‘What about a date to a rose garden? :D’_

* * *

**Louis:** He honestly hadn’t meant to snoop around on Harry’s phone but unless the other person had specifically mentioned it, personal boundaries weren’t really a thing that existed between him and his bandmates.

So when Louis saw his name pop up on Harry’s phone in a message from Nick Grimshaw he had gotten curious. If Harry really hadn’t wanted him to see, he shouldn’t have left his phone laying around in the studio they were currently in. And besides, anyone could've walked passed the coffee table and gotten curious, it just happened to be Louis himself this time he reasoned with himself before picking up the phone and entering Harry's password. He quickly opened Nick's thread of messages and stared at the last one, sent four minutes ago, for quite a while. He just couldn't make sense of it. _Do you think Louis would like a romantic boat trip across the Thames?_ it said. Which, what?

Quickly Louis scrolled up, trying to find anything that would explain why Nick was asking this but it only ended up with him being more confused.It really wasn't making any sense, Harry and Nick were, as it seemed, full on plotting on how Nick could seduce, well.. Him?

Nick didn’t like him. That was one thing Louis was certain of. From day one Nick had been making comments about his height, and Louis knew that in comparison to the giant that Nick was himself he was slightly tiny. But their height difference certainly wasn’t enough for Nick to keep going on about it, or so Louis had thought. And since there’s only so much a person can take he started making comments back, about Nick’s height, his clothes, his choice of drink. Everything really and that’s how their feud had started. It had only gotten worse after that, they had even taken their arguments to twitter and had now reached a point where they couldn’t stand to be in the same room anymore, much to Harry’s disappointment.

So Louis was pretty much clueless as to why Nick was talking about ‘wooing’ him. And especially not why he was thinking of over the top dates like a boat trip or a picnic on top of the Eifel Tower in Paris.

Louis wasn’t an over the top kind of person, sure, he presented himself as one from time to time and he knew that he was loud and had a big mouth but when it came to dating and being serious about someone else he preferred his dates to be personal and perhaps a little bit boring. He didn’t need to jump out of an airplane with a parachute and land inside a heart of rose petals, if given the choice he would absolutely go for dinner and playing footsie underneath the table than jumping out of a plane.

Louis continued scrolling up through the messages until he came across a picture of him and Nick, which again, what? That couldn’t be real, he would’ve remembered doing a papwalk while holding Nick’s hand for sure. It wasn’t until he read the caption underneath it, _Found this on tumblr, those Tomlinshaw shippers are seriously talented!_ , that all puzzle pieces slot into place. Holy shit. Louis could feel all blood drain from his face and his heart dropped into his stomach. He couldn’t believe Harry. He would’ve expected something like this from Nick fucking Grimshaw but Harry wasn’t a mean person.

But all the evidence was right in front of him. Harry and Nick were planning some elaborate plan to prank him. To embarrass him. There was no way he was going to let this happen though. Plans already started to form in his head. He would get his revenge.

* * *

**Nick** : After a week of constantly texting Harry and spending hours getting lost in the Tomlinshaw tag on Tumblr _‘Operation Tomlinshaw’_ as they had called the plan to woo Louis was starting to get finalized and ready to put into action and Nick was slowly beginning to feel pretty confident about the whole thing. There was no way Louis would be able to resist him after all the trouble he was going through to win him over. Or so he hoped. The plan consisted of several elaborate and original dates for Louis and him to go on, all specifically thought up with Louis in mind so they would make him feel extra special.

Nick had just gotten home from the bookstore where he had bought several books in preparation for the first date and was now waiting for a text from Harry to tell him whether _Operation Tomlinshaw_ could put into action or not and even though Nick felt confident about the plan itself there was always the chance that Louis was going to say no to going on a date in the first place and that left Nick slightly nervous.

He hadn’t quite known before but during all the back and forth texting about Louis with Harry, Nick had come to realise how badly he actually wanted this to happen. His crush wasn’t just this vague unreachable thing anymore, it was slowly growing into something bigger and that’s why he felt all jittery while waiting for Harry’s text.

It wasn’t until he was in the kitchen preparing his dinner that his phone beeped with Harry’s ringtone. He quickly grabbed his phone from the kitchen counter and opened the message: _Get studying, operation tomlinshaw is a go!_ it read.

Nick really couldn’t help the excited squeal that left mouth or the big grin on his face and after doing a small victory dance he texted Harry a message back consisting of three grinning smiley, two thumbs up, the two boys holding hands and the dancing lady. It was all really happening and Nick couldn’t be more excited about it, a fluttery feeling exploded in his stomach and he physically had to stop himself from jumping up and down.

Pig had come running towards the kitchen upon hearing his squeal and Nick picked her up and cradled her in his arms before twirling them around.

“He said yes, Pig,” Nick almost shouted. “he actually said yes. I’m going on a date with Louis Tomlinson tomorrow.”

 

Nick was freaking out. He had gone on loads of dates before and he could still remember the nerves he had felt when he had gone on his first day with a guy. But it was nothing compared to how he was feeling now and he wasn’t sure if it was because he really liked Louis and couldn’t wait to get to know him better or if it was because Louis had no clue he was going on a date with him.

While coming up with the details of _Operation Tomlinshaw_ Harry and Nick had decided that their best shot at getting Louis to agree on going on a date was for Harry to pretend he had set up a blind date for him. Nick had no idea how Louis was going to react, best case scenario Louis would happily go on the date with him and worst case scenario would be Louis refusing. So really, all Nick could do now was hope for the best.

And then there was this tiny other problem. _Oh god, what do I wear Harold?!_ \- Nick had continuously been texting Harry with outfit options throughout the afternoon and Harry hadn’t replied to any of it. Harry was the worst friend ever. _You are the worst friend ever_ – Nick texted him, just to make sure he knew.

Harry was supposed to be by his side in this, helping him and calming down his nerves except he wasn’t and it was unnerving to say the least. Because what if Harry was with Louis who had changed his mind? And that was a spiral of thoughts Nick didn’t want to go down.

Nick looked over at Pig who was lying smack in the middle of the big pile of clothes that he had thrown out of his closet onto his floor.

“You’ll help me won’t you, girl?” She tilted her head to the side and looked at him with big eyes. “Yes you will, you’ll never leave me unlike that son of a -” right at that moment his phone beeped with an incoming text from Harry.

_Wear something warm, you’ll be outside for most of the evening and it still gets quite cold at night!_ His phone beeped four more times in quick succession.

_Wear those back skinny jeans_

_With your black sweater_

_And your black boots_

_Oh and a warm coat on top_

Nick blinked owlishly at his phone. How very helpful that Harry Styles. Truly excellent advise, Nick knew exactly the outfit Harry meant. Not.

_Great advice, could you be any more specific really?_ He quickly texted back.

_Ha ha_ came Harry’s reply _you know which ones I mean, the black jeans you just bought the other day with your black see through sweater and those biker boots_

Now they were getting somewhere. Deciding to trust Harry on his advice Nick went on a search for the items he needed, jostling Pig in the process because she was still on top of his clothes like a true princess.

“Sorry girl,” Nick apologised to her. “you know I value your advice more than his right? It’s just that you haven’t been exactly helpful either by shedding hair all over my clothes.”

Pig rolled over unto her back in response, asking for tummy rubs which Nick quickly obliged to before returning to his search. He finally found the sweater he was looking for right underneath pig and Nick couldn’t help but smile to himself. Such a smart dog she was, she had known what he should wear for his date all along.

* * *

**Louis:** Louis had managed to avoid being alone with Harry ever since he had found out about the prank Harry and Nick were planning on pulling on him. It wasn’t that he was angry at Harry per se. Hell, secretly he was kind of proud of Harry for thinking he could prank Louis like this.

It was just that he was slightly hurt by it all because he knew that Harry knew that Louis didn’t just date anybody and when he did he was serious about it. So really, Louis didn’t quite understand how Harry had come up with this idea and for what reason? To keep the Tumblr fandom happy? And did it really have to be with a guy he couldn’t stand? So Louis had tried not to be alone with Harry because he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to contain himself from confronting him about it and he really didn’t want to give away that he knew. It would mess up his own plan of getting revenge. See, Louis had decided on going along with whatever Harry and Nick had planned for him but he was going to make sure he was a pain in the ass every step along the way.

The only thing he hadn’t accounted for though, was the fact that his band were all nosy fucks so of course they had all noticed his odd behaviour. He never avoided Harry, he was after all his favourite boy. That’s why it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Harry was able to corner him alone when he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings because he was distracted by some pictures a random girl he had met in a club the other day was sending him.

“Hi Louis.” Harry’s face popped up right in front of his and startled him out of his concentration.

“Harold,” he replied with a scowl on his face. “I’m kind of busy at the moment. So shoo.”

“Oh, this’ll only take a minute.” Harry was practically bouncing in his seat. “So the other day I was talking with a friend of mine, who has this friend, whose cousin has a friend that has a friend who is gay.”

“No.”

“And he’s a great guy, honestly exactly your type,”

“No.” Exactly his type, pft. He had a type yes, but Nick Grimshaw was not it. Nu uh, no way.

“He’s tall,”

“Harold, no.”

“But Louis, he’s tall,”

“I said no, and that’s the end of it.”

“Really tall,”

“How tall exactly are we talking about here?”

“6’1 tall.”

“Nice.”

“So you’ll do it?” Harry had put on his best puppy face which was hard to ignore on any given day.

“I didn’t say that, did I?”

“Please?” to make things worse Harry started pouting at him too. He was really pulling out all stops here but Louis didn’t want to give in just yet.

“Pretty please?”

“Tell me more about him first then,” Louis said with a sigh.

“Well,” Harry started before going off into a five minute story about how great this mystery guy was. Louis timed it. Objectively speaking, if Louis didn’t know that Harry was talking about Nick, this guy seemed pretty great and like someone he could have a laugh with. But Harry was talking about Nick and Louis knew for sure that a date with him was going to be awful.

“Are you quite finished, Haz?”

“I mean, are you convinced yet?”

Louis could feel himself wanting to give in, it was just, Harry was looking at him with his big puppy eyes and he had sounded so excited when he was talking about this guy, he even flapped his hands around in the way he only does when something truly excited him. So Louis could feel his resolve starting to melt and that was something he wanted to do just yet, he wanted Harry to work for it.

“Not really. Look, he seems alright okay. But I don’t know if dating is something I want to do right now?” It wasn’t even really a lie, really. He wasn’t sure if he was up for dating right now, sure he wanted someone to have sex with. But dating didn’t necessarily have to lead to sex and Louis knew for sure that Harry would be so disappointed with him if he used this date as a one night stand. Not that he wanted a one night stand with Nick, no way.

“But it is! You haven’t gone on a date in forever and I know you’re not still heartbroken over your last girlfriend so why don’t you just give it a try?”

“Because it takes -”

“Don’t say effort. Don’t you dare say effort,” Harry rudely interrupted him. “This whole date has been taken care off so all you have to do is show up and look nice.”

“But,” Louis tried to butt in.

“Look, it’s weird seeing you single okay? Since I met you on that faithful day in the Xfactor bathroom you have never been single for more than a few weeks and it’s been almost three months now. It’s weird.” Harry started to sound a bit exasperated now.

“Just give it a go, you might end up really enjoying yourself and liking this guy.”

“Fine.”

“You’ll go?”

“Yes, Harold. I’ll go on this stupid date of yours.”

 

Before Louis knew it, Harry showed up at his doorstep to pick him up for his ‘date’.

“No,” Was the first thing Harry said when Louis opened the door. “God, Louis. I said look to look nice, didn’t I? Not wear your rattiest pair of joggers and a sweatshirt with holes in it.”

Harry looked closer at him. “And you didn’t even shower did you?”

“I mean, to be fair. I did just get up, so.” It was true, he had just gotten up after spending the whole day in bed watching crappy reality shows and eating junk food, Louis was feeling pretty good about his day so far. Harry on the other hand didn’t look happy at all.

“Thank fuck I got here early. You go shower, I’ll go pick out an outfit for you.” Harry said with a stern face before moving past Louis to get into his house and rushing upstairs leaving Louis alone in his hallway feeling quite baffled. Harry wasn’t usually a good actor at all and yet he seemed really serious about this. In all honesty, it made Louis feel quite worried about what he could expect for the rest of the night.

Not wanting to upset Harry even more he quickly closed his front door before heading towards the bathroom for a wash.

When he finally emerged all squeaky clean and freshly shaven from the bathroom it was to find Harry sitting impatiently on his now made bed and he practically forced Louis to put on the outfit he had picked out for him before rushing them out of the door. It was date time.

* * *

**Nick:** Harry and Louis were late, 23 minutes late to be precise and Nick was doing his best to stay calm. But Nick wouldn’t be Nick if he wasn’t failing spectacularly at that. Nervously, he kept glancing at his phone, either checking the time or his messages for something from Harry. But other than the _Don’t worry, tonight will go great!_ That Harry had sent him about two hours ago he had received nothing from him.

After waiting for 34 minutes Nick was ready to give up and call it a night. It was getting obvious that he had been stood up. God, this whole thing had been nothing but a disaster. Why did he keep putting himself in situations that left him being the embarrassed one? First with Harry and now with being stood up by Louis Tomlinson who probably didn’t even know he was standing Nick up since they had planned it as a blind date for him. And the fact that he had gone through so much effort and preparations for this date, well, that was not something he was going to think about right now.

He was about to get back to his car when Harry’s car finally pulled up onto the driveway. As soon as Harry had parked the car he jumped out of the driver’s seat.

“I am so sorry we’re late. Traffic was hell and this one wasn’t even remotely done when I got at his place to pick him up,” he gestured back towards the car where Louis had remained seated. “and then my battery died so I couldn’t even let you know.” Harry sounded distressed about the whole thing but Nick didn’t even notice because he only had eyes for Louis who was sat in the passenger seat with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. He had a blindfold covering his eyes, preventing him from seeing where he was.

Nick couldn’t help it but his mind involuntarily went to Louis being blindfolded in a completely different situation after seeing him in the car like that. Preferably Louis was naked on Nick’s bed looking fierce while being completely at Nick’s mercy. Not being able to see anything and waiting for whatever Nick would give him.

He quickly shook himself out of his thoughts, not wanting to get himself into a delicate situation. But he really hoped that this was a fantasy that Louis would be willing to explorer with him on a later date. For now his first priority was getting through the evening without getting harmed.

“Oh that’s alright, no worries,” Nick managed to tear his attention away from Louis. “I was a bit late myself anyways.” There was no way Nick was going to admit that he had gotten there 15 minutes early to make sure everything was in order and for some last preparations. And Harry looked relieved by his answer so Nick wasn’t going to feel bad about lying to him.

“You look really good by the way,” Harry said with a smile. “I knew that your black sweater would be a good choice. Anyways, shall we get him out of the car?”

“Thanks. Yeah lets, he’s starting to look moody.” The nerves that had disappeared for a bit while he was talking to Harry were starting to return in full force.

Harry went over to Louis and helped him get out of the car and carefully walked him over to Nick before running back to his car and driving off, leaving Nick and Louis alone.

Nick studied Louis’ face, he was still scowling but the twitching from his hands revealed that he wasn’t as unaffected as he was trying to be. Nick carefully reached behind Louis to undo the blindfold and let his arms drop to his side, holding the blindfold in his left hand, as soon as he’d undone the knot. Anxiously he bit his lip while he watched Louis flutter his eyes open.

“Oh God, it’s you.” And, in theory Nick should’ve expected that reaction but he could feel his stomach drop as Louis spoke those words.

“Yes, it is me,” Nick tried to sound as sarcastic as possible but he was sure he was failing pretty hard and by the look on Louis his face he knew too. “Not what you were expecting, Tomlinson?”

“Obviously not,” he scoffed. “Harry made sure to make the bloke he was talking about seem cool. So no, I can’t say that I was expecting you.”

“Right,” the date had barely started and things were going wrong already, this must be a new record for Nick. “so terribly sorry to disappoint.”

Louis was all angry looking, with his arms crossed defensively and the scowl on his face even more prominent and Nick really didn’t know how to handle this.

“God, I can’t believe I let Harry talk me into this,” Louis took his time to look around at his surroundings. “and to think he made me promise to stay for at least an hour too.” His eyes fell onto the building beside them and a confused frown replaced the scowl on his face.

“Where are we anyways?” he asked.

“We’re at an observatory,” Nick replied. “thought it might be nice to go stargazing.” The raise of Louis his eyebrow made Nick realise that he’d probably been very wrong about choosing stargazing as their first date.

“Brilliant.” Louis walked over to the entrance and spread his arms wide while standing in front of it. “Well come on then, give it your best shot, Nicholas.”

* * *

**Louis:** After driving for quite some time Harry finally pulled over his car at the side of the road, Louis was about to get open the door and get out when he noticed their surroundings. They were in, what felt like, the middle of nowhere. There were no houses to be seen, just fields of grass and trees. Obviously he had noticed that they had left London and drove towards the countryside but when you’re on long car journeys often you gain the ability to nap whenever you get in a car.

And so despite Harry’s complaining about being the most boring passenger ever, that’s exactly what he did. Not that he needed any beauty sleep, but naps are awesome and he felt like he deserved one, especially since he was going on a ‘date’ with Nick fucking Grimshaw.

“Why did you stop? This does not seem like a date appropriate place, Harry.”

“Oh relax won’t you. We’re not there yet.” Harry reached behind him and turned back around holding a black scarf in his left hand.

“That’s not what I think it is, isn’t it?” Louis asked.

“I mean, obviously I don’t know what you’re thinking but this, my dear Louis, is a blindfold.”

Louis groaned, loudly. “But Harold, don’t you know that driving while being blindfolded is very dangerous?”

“Yes, obviously I know that. This isn’t for me, it’s for you. Surprise.” Harry grinned.

“Fuck you.”

“Nah, I’d rather you fuck your blind date instead.” Harry replied. “Now, come here and let me blindfold you so the date remains a surprise.”

If looks could kill Harry would be dead by now, unfortunately before Louis could glare at him with his death-stare even longer Harry managed to blindfold him, easily avoiding Louis his squirming hands which were trying to pinch him in whatever body part Louis could reach.

Admitting defeat Louis slumped back into his chair. He was already starting to regret this.

After a long and bumpy road that left Louis feeling quite nauseous because he wasn’t able to see anything, he finally felt the car come to a stop again and heard Harry getting out of the car. Louis could hear muffled voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying and since he was blindfolded there was no way he was going to attempt getting out of the car himself. He crossed his arms over his chest and hoped that he wouldn’t have to wait for long before they came to his rescue.

Soon enough the car door on his side opened and Harry grabbed hold of his arms and helped him get out of the car, making sure he was steady on his feet before walking him over to something, someone? Louis wasn’t sure. All he knew was that Harry let go of him and before he could call out his goodbyes he heard a car door slam and Harry’s car pulling away. Great. So he was serious about having him stay wherever he was for at least an hour minimum. He had even taken his phone so he couldn’t send out an S.O.S if it was really needed.

He felt someone move around him and even though he was trying to play it cool he was secretly terrified. What if Harry and the rest of the boys had decided that they’d finally had enough of him and had pretended to set up a blind date for him but were getting him killed instead? Technically he knew that his boys would never do that but he’d stayed up all night watching horror films and this was the perfect scenario for a murder.

Soon enough the blindfold was removed from around his head and Louis was sure of it, this was the moment he was going to face his killer. He blinked open his eyes, standing right in front of him was Nick Grimshaw. Radio 1 DJ and best friend of Harry styles. Louis felt relieved that it wasn’t the faceless killer he’d been expecting and pissed off at the same time. Harry had been serious about pranking him with Nick Grimshaw then. While he was getting ready he had been getting second thoughts about Harry trying to prank him like this because he’d realise how much it would hurt Louis and secretly he’d hoped Harry had fixed him up with a real blind date instead. But by the looks of it, Harry and Nick had been completely serious about what he’d read on Harry’s phone.

“Oh God, it’s you.” Louis tried to sound as unaffected and sarcastic as possible and by the look on Nick’s face he was succeeding pretty well.

“Yes, it is me. Not what you were expecting, Tomlinson?”

And like, Louis had known that it was very likely that he was going to meet Nick here, it just wasn’t what he was hoping for. What he was hoping for was for Harry to have set him up with this gorgeous lad he could spend the night with instead but obviously that wasn’t what had happened.

“Obviously not. Harry made sure to make the bloke he was talking about seem cool. So no, I can’t say that I was expecting you.” Louis crossed his arms over his chest and spread his legs a bit, standing as fierce as his could. He was going to win this fight and come out crowned prank-victor. He could see Nick deflating in front of him. This was going to be easier than he’d thought.

“Right. So terribly sorry to disappoint.” As he should be, Louis thought.

“God, I can’t believe I let Harry talk me into this. And to think he made me promise to stay for at least an hour too.” Louis decided to finally look around him, having seen only Nick’s face ever since the blindfold came off and his eyes fell onto a strange looking building beside them and it left him wondering for what reason Harry and Nick had brought him out into the middle of nowhere to look at a strange building.

“Where are we anyways?” he asked, feeling rather confused by it all.

“We’re at an observatory. Thought it might be nice to go stargazing.” Came Nick’s answer. And while it did strange things to his stomach, which was Louis choosing to ignore. It was just, no one had taken him stargazing on a date before. Louis raised his eyebrow in distaste instead.

“Brilliant.” He replied before Nick could say anything more and he walked over to the entrance and stood in front of it with his arms spread wide. The game was on. “Well come on then, give it your best shot Nicholas.”

Nick slowly walked up to him and opened up the door before gesturing for Louis to enter first. At least someone was behaving like a gentleman, Louis thought. They climbed up three sets of stairs before they finally reached an open space that held a gigantic telescope.

“Thought we could use the telescope first to see the planets and stuff.” Nick said, coming up from behind him to stand next to him. There was a guide standing next to the telescope to help with the telescope and explain things about the galaxy to them. Secretly Louis was very relieved, this way they didn’t have to talk to each other directly. And also, the guide was quite good looking. Perhaps she’d be open for some fun when this date with Nick went to shit.

They spend some time mucking about on the telescope and Louis found himself being very interested in what the guide was telling them and for the first time he could see why Niall was so fascinated by everything NASA related. He tried to reply to her explanations with witty comebacks and some innocent flirting but whenever it was Nick’s turn at the telescope Louis would find his attention being drawn to him instead of to the guide. He had quite a nice profile, he hadn’t known that before. Drowning out the voice of the guide and Nick’s response Louis stared quite hard at Nick. Not only did he have a nice side profile, he had really nice hands too. Hands had always been a bit of a thing for Louis. He liked someone with delicate bones and long fingers and Nick happened to have both of those. How annoying.

As if Nick could feel Louis his stare he turned around to face him. “Shall we go and get something to drink? We can always come back up here later if you’d want?” He asked. And Louis found himself nodding to agree. The hand and side profile revelation left Louis feeling a bit unsettled. He didn’t like Nick, his personality was crap so liking parts of his body felt strange to him.

Soon they found themselves lying on their backs on a picnic-blanket, a thermos of hot chocolate with two mugs filled to the brim between them. The night was clear, giving them a perfect view of all the stars above them.

“That’s the North star over there, it’s the brightest one.” Nick pointed out once they got settled.

“Eh,” Louis replied. “I reckon the one over there is much brighter though.” He randomly pointed into the direction of a star opposite of the one Nick was showing him.

“It is definitely not.” Nick scoffed.

“It totally is, you just don’t want to admit it.” Louis replied a slightly teasing tone to his voice. There was no way he was going to say this out loud to anyone but so far he was really enjoying himself. He had even forgot to check the time to see if he could ask for Harry to pick him up yet.

“Please,” Nick started. “And over there we have the big dipper, see? It looks a bit like a ladle.”

“Are you sure? Because I swore I saw something that resembled a ladle over there was well.”

“I’m sure Tomlinson. Trust me on this, I know my stuff.”

“Yes, so do I and I know you’re wrong.”

“Whatever.” Nick then continued to point out several other constellations and secretly Louis was kind of impressed with his knowledge. He didn’t know anything about stars personally and he’d purposely been pointing in different directions when Nick was showing him something to undermine Nick’s superiority in star knowledge.

Louis could visibly see Nick get more and more frustrated with him every time he interrupted him in an attempt to prove him wrong.

“God,” Nick finally snapped. “I know I’m right about this, I did my research okay? I read a book for you on this stuff.” Even in the dark Louis could see a red flush spreading over Nick’s cheek and Louis loudly started to cackle. He even held his belly while doing so.

“Come on, it’s not that funny.” Nick attempted to calm Louis down.

“Oh but it is,” Louis even pretended to wipe away a tear. “You trying to impress me with bookskills, Nicholas?”

“Maybe.” Nick quietly admitted before looking back up at the stars, leaving Louis once again to admire his profile while his laughs quieted down. He really did have a good side profile, Louis thought. And the squirmy feeling that he felt when he learnt about Nick trying to impress him was completely due to all the laughing.

* * *

**Nick:** Nick wasn’t quite sure how to feel about this. On one hand he was livid and on the other hand he was secretly very charmed. Louis was such an asshole, why on earth had he’d ever thought that attempting to date Louis Tomlinson would be a good idea? Louis didn’t like him and he made sure Nick knew that by openly flirting with their guide during the first part of the date. And not only had he been flirting, Louis had been ignoring him the whole time too. So Nick felt like he was rightly feeling upset with Louis. It was just rude is what it was.

But at the same time Nick was secretly very charmed too, and that slightly bothered him. The flirting part should’ve made him realise that he really didn’t stand a chance with Louis and yet he couldn’t help himself. Louis was just very pretty to look at and the way he scrunched up his nose a bit while he was concentrating was absolutely adorable.

Nick felt like the second part of the date was going better too. At least he had Louis his full attention on him this time since they were the only ones outside, lying side by side on a blanket so they could gaze up to the stars instead of looking through a telescope.

Louis had been very cute about it too in the beginning, him pointing at different directions on purpose while trying to sound all smart whenever Nick wanted to show him something. But after a while is started to get a bit frustrating too, because unlike Louis, Nick actually knew what he was talking about, sort of. Ever since he’d know that the date was on he’d been buried with his nose in the books that he’d bought about stars. Trying to cram as much knowledge as possible into his brain in an attempt to impress Louis, but so far, with Louis trying to undermine every single thing he was saying, it didn’t seem like it was working at all.

Especially not when Nick accidentally blurted out the fact that he’d been studying, which had left Louis in stitches. And although Louis was so adorable while laughing it made Nick flush with embarrassment. That was not something he was meant to admit. Definitely not.

When Louis his laughter finally died down he turned to his side so he could watch Nick, a grin on his face.

“So Nick, been planning anything else to impress me tonight?” he asked cheekily.

Nick turned to his side, facing Louis, too. “I mean, other than with my sparkling personality, not really.”

“Shame, your personality could do with some work too, really.” Louis said with a grin and before Nick had the chance to feel offended he followed it up with a question.

“So tell me something you wouldn’t usually tell about yourself when you’re on a first date.”

Which, Nick knew that dating was all about getting to know each other but he wasn’t quite sure whether he felt comfortable sharing something personal with Louis yet. Especially not because he wasn’t sure where he stood with him.

“I mean,” he started and looked at Louis who was watching him expectantly. “when I sleep alone, I still sleep with my stuffed bear that I got when I was a baby.” Louis raised his eyebrow at that.

“That’s,” louis scrunched up his nose and looked as if he wasn’t quite sure how to reply to that.

“God. Okay, so. I could make a joke about this and believe me, I want to. But the thing is, so do I.” Louis looked as if it pained him to say it and frankly Nick had to admit that he hadn’t quite expected it either.

“Really?” Nick asked with surprise colouring his voice.

“Yeah, I mean like,” Louis turned back on his back and scrubbed his face with both hands. “it’s just, I like to hold something when I’m asleep and when you’re traveling a lot like I am it’s just nice to have a tiny bit of home with you, it makes me feel safe.”

“Yeah same,” Nick said softly. “The holding something in your sleep thing I mean. Obviously I have Pig and she sleeps in my bed sometimes but always near my feet, never in my arms.”

Louis turned his head to the side so he could see Nick, a slight red flush colouring his cheeks.

“If you ever tell someone what I just told you, you’re dead Grimshaw.” Despite the blushing cheeks Louis managed to look fierce and Nick was sure he would actually follow through with killing him if this secret left his lips. Nick was quite certain that Louis knew the right people to do it for him.

“I swear, I won’t.” Nick promised.

After that things felt slightly less awkward between the two of them, or so Nick thought. They spend the rest of the evening quietly chatting. Or rather, Nick was talking and Louis was listening, offering up comments whenever he felt like it. He had gotten a bit subdued, obviously feeling a bit uncomfortable after telling something so personal to him. But Nick didn’t mind, he was happy to blabber away, after all, talking was something he did professionally too and he had managed to make Louis laugh a couple of times so he wouldn’t call the night a complete bust. There had also been the eye contact, Louis was constantly looking at him with a slight blush on his cheek, although that may have been due to the cold. And Nick almost dared to say there had been some light and innocent flirting happening between the two of them. So no, definitely not a bust.

After they had finished all the hot chocolate that had been in the thermos and they had both started shivering due to the cold they decided to call it a night.

Together they gathered up the blankets they’d been lying on and the thermos and cups they’d been using. Louis picked up the cups and handed them over to Nick who already had his arms full with all the other stuff but after shifting some stuff around he managed to hold it all and they were left standing in front of each other.

“So,” Nick started out a bit hesitant. “I had fun tonight.”

“Yeah, so did I.” Louis said while pulling a face that Nick couldn’t quite decipher.

“Do you think we could do this again some other time?” Nick asked in a moment of feeling brave. Louis looked a bit surprised at that which Nick really couldn’t understand. He thought Louis was lovely.

“I mean, sure? If you want to?” Louis replied.

“Yes, I would really like that.” Nick grinned, trying not to sound all too eager but failing miserably.

“Okay cool,” Louis was fumbling with the drawstrings of his green hoody and he had a slight frown on his face. Nick couldn’t quite get a good read on him, on one hand Louis looked like he was about to flee and on the other it looked as if he didn’t want to leave at all.

“Um, shall we get inside? I’m freezing.”

“Yeah, yes, good idea. Let’s do that.”

Inside they found Harry flirting with their guide from earlier while he was waiting for Louis. Nick couldn’t help but feel rather pleased about that, looking at the way she was responding to the Styles-charm there was no way Louis stood a chance with her anymore.

Harry looked up and turned his attention away from the girl once he noticed them coming in. “Hey, there you guys are, had fun?” He asked with a grin on his face while waggling his eyebrows.

“Yeah, we had a good time,” Nick answered. “Learned a lot of new things.” Louis scoffed loudly at that and shot Nick a threatening look.

“Right,” Harry looked a bit confused at their interaction but was smart enough not to ask any questions. “You guys ready to leave? It’s getting quite late and Shelley over here wouldn’t mind closing up and going home.” He said and winked at the girl.

“Nah, I’m good to go.” Louis replied and immediately he walked over to the entrance and slipped outside, leaving Nick behind. Which, rude. He quickly followed, leaving Harry to say goodbye to their guide Shelley.

“So, um, I’ll call you?” Nick asked when he’d caught up with Louis who was waiting by Harry’s car. “You know, to schedule our second date?”

Nick was a bit anxious that Louis had changed his mind in between asking him for the first time and now, especially after seeing Harry go after the girl he’d been flirting with first. And although Nick was fairly certain Louis had been flirting with him too towards the end of their date and that he didn’t stand a chance with their guide now that Harry was in the picture, he was afraid that after seeing their guide again Louis had realised he’d actually rather be with a girl. See, Nick didn’t actually knew where Louis stood on the sexuality spectrum, so literally anything was possible.

But Nick was pleasantly surprised when Louis replied with an affirmative nod. “Sure, sounds good.” He said while looking up through his eyelashes at Nick and. God. Nick wanted to either ruin him or have Louis looking up like that every day for the rest of his life. Preferably both.

Nick was about to lean in and kiss him and by the way Louis his eyes slightly widened he realised it too but he stayed right where he was. Their moment was ruined by Harry stepping outside and Nick quickly took a step back from Louis, not wanting to make the situation awkward between the three of them. Harry sidled up to them and his eyes flitted questioningly between Nick and Louis, visibly curious about their date.

“Shall we get going?” Harry inquired when it was obvious he wasn’t going to get any answers.

It wasn’t until Nick was sat in his car after saying goodbye to Harry, with a hug and a promise to call him the next morning and a tentative wave to Louis who stuck out his tongue in return and a promise to call him too that he realised the massive thing that happened that night. He’d gone on a date with Louis Tomlinson and it wasn’t a complete failure and he would get to do it again in the next few days.

* * *

**Louis:** Louis was plotting ways on what would be the best way to kill Harry without leaving a huge mess. So far he’d come up with three ideas. All his Breaking Bad marathons finally seemed useful to him.

He’d gone on the date with Nick last night and he begrudgingly had to admit that he had quite a good time and even worse, that Nick Grimshaw wasn’t as terrible as he had thought him to be. It seriously pained him to admit it.

Harry had tried to interrogate him about the date on the way back home but Louis had stayed mum. Not even mentioning anything about how he felt about his blind date being Nick even though he could feel Harry’s curious eyes on him during the whole car ride home. He had some processing to do first before he was willing to talk about it.

He hadn’t been sure what to expect from the date and had come up with a detailed plan that he had meant to stick to about how he was going to behave and even going as far as coming up with things that he could say to Nick to offend him. Except unfortunately for Louis, he found out that things never went according to plan and within the first hour of the date Louis had come to realise that he wasn’t sticking to his script one bit and that it had left him feeling quite vulnerable.

The first bit of the date was easy as there was someone else with them he could focus on and that’s exactly what he’d done, flirting with their cute female guide whenever the opportunity arose. He’d managed to piss of Nick with that quite a bit so at least one part of his plan had worked.

The second part though, not so easy. Nick had tried to impress him with knowledge about stars and it had worked, Louis was secretly very impressed with Nick going through such lengths of studying stars for him. But as they were lying side by side on their blanket watching the stars, while Nick was telling funny stories and little bits and pieces about himself and his life, Louis realised he actually felt quite at ease around him. So much that he had ended up telling Nick about Mister Snuffles, something only people he felt closest to knew about. It was while watching Nick laugh to himself about something funny that had happened to him on the breakfast show that morning that Louis had found himself captivated by Nick’s mouth. When they were saying goodbye to each other Louis had been so sure that Nick was going to kiss him and he had found himself not minding that at all, had wanted it to happen even. That combined with the fact that he had opened up so easily about something so personal to Nick had left him feeling wildly unsettled.

Louis knew that he had the tendency to fall fast for some people but this time he just wasn’t sure, he could easily picture himself falling hard for Nick but he didn’t know if it was because of Nick or because he hadn’t been on a proper date in forever and just missed the flirting and being close to someone. So Louis was torn, on one hand he wouldn’t mind seeing where things were going with Nick. Letting things run their own course but on the other hand there was the nagging feeling about the prank and that was something he couldn’t forget about.

What really bothered him was that he didn’t even know what Harry and Nick were getting out of his, apart from his complete embarrassment. Perhaps it has just started out of boredom and they were doing it to humour themselves or maybe, since he had seen them talking about Tumblr, they were writing a fanfiction for the fandom or what if the fandom was in on the prank too? Louis head started to hurt while trying to figure it out.

He guessed he just had to wait and see how it would pan out, and perhaps, since he could feel his feelings starting to get involved, change his game plan too.

* * *

**Nick:** Nick was wondering if there was ever going to be a time where he wouldn't be nervous around Louis Tomlinson. Today he realised fairly quick, was not going to be that day. It had been a bit off a struggle to set up date number two due to both their busy schedules and Louis taking forever to reply to text messages and Nick being too much of a coward to call him. But, they had finally managed to arrange something and Nick was currently waiting for Louis to arrive.

Nick wasn’t sure how he’d been able to do it, but despite Louis grilling him about it in the few texts he had sent and Nick on the verge of caving in, he had managed to keep his mouth shut on whatever they were doing for their second date. He had only told Louis to wear clothes he’d feel comfortable exercising in and somehow Louis was now convinced that they we’re going to play or do something football related. Which, no thanks. There was no way Nick was going to admit to disliking the sport this early on in their relationship.

The car that was meant to drop Louis of was meant to arrive any second now and Nick could feel his body buzzing with nerves and excitement. He was quite looking forward to this date himself, the activity being one that he had picked himself, but also because he was quite looking forward to spending time with Louis again, nerves be damned.

Nick was fiddling with his sleeves, pulling them down over his hands to create sweater paws when Louis his car pulled up and the door opened to reveal a compact and cosy looking Louis. He was wearing grey joggers with the ends tucked into his socks. On top he was wearing an oversized sweatshirt that on closer look used to belong to Nick but had disappeared into Harry’s closet. And although Louis probably didn’t know this, seeing him in Nick’s own clothes did funny things to Nick’s stomach.

As Louis was saying goodbye to his driver Nick got a few minutes where he could unabashedly watch Louis without being scolded for it. And shit, did he look good. His messy hair was pulled back by a headband and aviators stuck firmly on top of his head. He looked effortlessly good, as if he had just rolled out of bed and put on the first outfit he saw. Nick was a bit envious of this, he never looked this good when he just got up.

It wasn’t until the car had driven off that Louis turned his attention to Nick and Nick could see the moment when what they were about to do dawned on Louis. The bright grin that was lighting up his whole face turning into a look of horror.

“No.” Was the first thing that came out of Louis his mouth. “No way.”

“But -”

“Nope, there is no way I’m getting on one of those.”“Why not? It always looks super easy.” Nick was considering whether he was above begging or not. It was just, he had been looking forward to this in ages, thinking it would be all romantic and Disney princey. “Because horses are evil, Nicholas. That’s why not.” Louis scoffed. Nick had to stifle a giggle at that.

“No they are not, Lewis. They’re lovely majestic animals.”

“Majestic my ass. You can go alone if you’re this desperate, but I’m not getting on one of those evil monsters.” With that Louis stormed off towards the barn, leaving Nick standing alone, feeling quite baffled, next to two horses and their groom. He looked at the groom who shrugged and motioned for Nick to go after Louis which he quickly did. Nick was expecting Louis to angrily be calling for his driver to come back when he finally reached the barn but what he found instead did nothing to help him get rid of the funny feeling in his stomach that he felt whenever he looked at Louis.

Nick learned three things on date number two:  
1\. Louis Tomlinson was extremely stubborn.  
2\. Louis Tomlinson in combination with puppies was not a good combination for his heart and neither was the pout on Louis his face when it turned out he couldn’t take the puppies home with him.  
3\. Louis Tomlinson was awfully ticklish.

So in the end they didn’t end up riding the horses like a Disney prince like Nick had originally planned but they spent the afternoon playing with six black and white puppies instead and while Nick had been disappointed about Louis not wanting to give it a try at first, that feeling quickly disappeared as soon as Nick sat down with Louis and one of the puppies trotted over to him wagging his tiny tail.

Date number three started out as a disaster and if only Nick had known this would be a forebode for the rest of the date he’d have turned around and stayed in bed all day. Louis had agreed on Nick picking him up for the occasion and they had spent the whole ride bickering about music choices. Louis claiming he could pick since he was the guest and Nick disagreeing with that since he was in fact the driver and owner of the car and therefore had exclusive music decision rights. It had ended up with them not listening to any music at all and Louis stubbornly staring out of the window not saying a word.

Upon arrival at the lake had Louis blanched when realised what they would be doing and had refused to get into the rowing boat at first. But Nick had seen the film What a girl wants the night before in preparation. The rowing date in that film had looked so cute and Nick wanted that. So he managed to persuade Louis to get in the boat with the promise of great, homemade food. Nick had been slaving away in the kitchen hours before in an attempt to impress Louis with his cooking skills. He had made all kinds of wraps and other pretty looking, posh food and was planning on having a picnic in the middle of the lake.

They had gotten perfect weather for the date, sun and blue skies. Apart from the hassle of getting them actually in the boat, Nick was feeling pretty optimistic about it. That feeling quickly changed when it turned out that Louis was not going to help out with the rowing. About two meters in, Nick could already feel the muscles in his arms burning. He really needed to go to the gym more often. Unfortunately Louis noticed his struggles too and that’s when he started with the sarcastic bordering on mean comments about Nick’s physique. At first Nick tried to laugh it away but you can only listen to so many comments about your age before it gets annoying.

It was when Nick finally deemed them far enough out on the water that the next problem came up. Nick had safely tucked the oars inside the boat and was busy opening the basket filled with food when Louis peered inside the basket.

“Jeez Nick, posh much?” That was not a good start. And neither was Louis deciding he didn’t like any of the food Nick had made him without even trying any of it. Instead Louis decided that it would be a great idea to start feeding the ducks with it, eventually dumping half of the little sandwiches Nick had prepared into the water because it was easier to feed them like that.

With a smirk Louis laid down on the bench he was sitting on after he was done feeding the ducks and primly placed his aviators on top of his nose. Refusing to take part in any attempts at a conversation.

“It’s nap time now, Nicholas. Shhh.” Nick felt lost and really didn’t know what to do. Louis was this gorgeous compact little thing and Nick desperately wanted to take him home and although the sun made him look like he was glowing, his personality was putting a shadow over the whole thing. Even though Nick knew that Louis didn’t like him, the first two dates had gotten him to believe that they were starting to like each other and that he actually stood a chance with Louis. There had been a lot of flirty banter going on between them and the thing he remembered most about both dates was them laughing a lot and Nick had always felt that being able to laugh with someone, was the most important thing.

And so Nick really wasn’t sure what had happened to change all of that on this date. Yes, perhaps he had annoyed Louis by not letting him choose the music and making him get into the boat but really, Nick didn’t think that those things warranted Louis ignoring him and making snide comments whenever he felt like it. In all honesty, Nick was hurt by it all. He really liked Louis, more than he probably should and he had known all along that he was going to be the one who’d ended up getting hurt. He just hadn’t expected him getting hurt by the third date already.

Nick felt so stupid, why did he let Harry talk him into trying to woo Louis. This had been doomed from the beginning. Nick was getting lost in his thoughts and didn’t notice Louis his gaze on him until he snapped out of his thoughts when Louis asked him a question.

“You alright?” Nick was surprised at the question, he hadn’t expected that. Louis had noticed that he was feeling sad so did that mean that he cared after all? And what was Nick supposed to reply with? The truth about he wasn’t alright but hurt? He knew that that was what he should say, good communication was important.

“Yeah, I’m good.” But it was not what came out of his mouth. Nick could see Louis raise his eyebrow, obviously not believing him but he didn’t feel like expanding much on his answer. Right now, he wasn’t sure whether opening up to Louis was a good idea.

In the end they spend some time lazing about on the boat in the sun, both lost in their own thoughts. At some point Louis had stripped out of his shirt so he could tan and seeing him topless really did nothing good to Nick wanting to keep his distance until he knew where he stood. Eventually Nick decided it was time to go back to shore, he was upset and conflicted about it all. Louis been horrible to him and from all the stories Harry had told him and his own experiences he knew that deep down Louis was a nice person. He didn’t understand the mood change at all, perhaps he was just having a bad day?

After rowing them back to land Nick was surprised to see a black van parked next to his own car, without saying anything Louis jumped out of the boat and took off towards the van without saying goodbye to Nick and got in before slamming the door shut. Obviously Louis had found time to ask for a car to come pick him up when they were on the boat, although when? Nick wasn’t sure, but then again he had been so lost in his own mind that he must’ve missed it. Nick wasn’t sure what hurt him most, the fact that Louis had left without saying goodbye or the fact that Louis had cut the date short, not wanting to spend more time with Nick than necessary as the original plan had been for Nick to drive Louis home.

After tying up the boat and gathering his stuff together Nick decided to give Louis one last chance, he’d had so much fun on the first two dates and his feelings for him were definitely real. And yes, he felt very conflicted about Louis he also felt like this was a situation where he needed to give his all and he hadn’t done that yet. Date number four was going to be perfect and if not, then he was going to let go of Louis Tomlinson.

* * *

**Louis:** Louis had never hated Harry more than he did now. And Nick too. God. They were ruining him and what for? Louis just couldn’t figure it out. He had even gone as far to search the Tumblr fandom for a fanfiction that seemed similar to what was happening between Nick and him or a hint that something similar was coming but he had found nothing. So he didn’t know what the point of the prank was and it was killing him.

It had happened during the second date, Louis could pinpoint the exact moment he had realised it and upon arriving at the third, Louis his suspicions were confirmed. He had a massive crush on Nick Grimshaw. Even the sight of his stupid quiff left him slightly breathless. Nick had come to pick him up for date number three and Louis had spent the whole car ride being turned on by Nick’s long fingers on the steering wheel. Fuck, he had wanted those fingers on him. He hadn’t had such intense feelings for someone in quite a while and having them for Nick Grimshaw scared the shit out of him.

He needed to distance himself from Nick before things got out of hand and he ended up doing stupid like throwing himself at him and snogging him senseless. He wouldn’t be able to handle the rejection and having Nick and Harry laughing at him for being so stupid and falling for their prank. Louis was angry with himself and his feelings for betraying him like this and therefore Louis proceeded to behave like the biggest ass he could handle to be towards Nick. And it killed him. He had noticed Nick closing off and all he had wanted to do was climb into his lap and comfort him, telling him he was sorry and didn’t mean it, that he was just being a brat because falling for Nick scared him.

And he just didn’t understand it, Nick was putting in so much effort into all these stupid dates, coming up with the most ridiculous ideas that left Louis feeling so warm inside and sad at the same time. He wanted someone to go on stupid dates with him but he wanted them to mean it. He didn’t want it like this. He didn’t want to fall for someone who was only dating him out of pity? Or because it was a prank or perhaps a date.

Louis had left without even saying goodbye to Nick, scared that he would start crying about how unfair it was of Nick and Harry to put him through this all and spent the way home staring at a picture he took on their previous date of Nick with his stupid crooked grin and a puppy in his arms.

He currently found himself in a club with loud music pounding in his ears, drowning out his thoughts and a drink sitting in front of him at the bar. He just wanted to forget all about Nick and his stupid quiff and ridiculous mouth. He slowly sipped his drink while searching the crowd for someone who could help him do exactly that. His eyes fell onto a girl with long blond hair and tight clothes revealing a nice curvy body. She would do absolutely nothing to remind him of Nick with his lanky body.

He sauntered over to her, feeling the effects of the alcohol running through his veins and making him a bit wobbly on his feet. Louis knew he looked good and would have no trouble in getting what he wanted and by the way the girl leaned into him when he asked her to dance he knew that she knew too. He was definitely not going home alone that night.

 

The next morning Louis found himself blessedly alone and with a massive hangover in bed. He had forgotten to close the blinds the night before and the sun was blinding him, he drew the blanket over his head in an attempt to escape the sun and probably the rest of the world too. Memories of the night before trickled back to the forefront of his mind and he felt bile starting to rise in his throat at the memory of having sex with the blonde girl, he didn’t even remember her name only that he had quietly moaned Nick’s name when he came. She had left pretty fast after that.

Tears ran down his cheeks but Louis made no attempt to brush them away, he had fucked up so much. He almost felt like he had cheated on Nick but nothing was going on between them. None of it was real and Louis found himself desperately wishing for it not to be fake.

It was a while later after taking a scorching hot shower that Louis started to feel more like himself again and ready to face the world when he took a look at his phone for the first time that day. He had tons of messages waiting for him to read but only one stood out. _Lucky number four like a clover? Are you free tomorrow evening? Xx Nick_.

Fuck. Louis had expected Nick to be done after being so rude to him on their last date. He sat down on his bed and started at the text for a few minutes before replying.

_Sure, tell me when and where and I’ll be there. Xx._ He had promised himself that he would play until the end, no matter how much spending another evening with Nick would kill him. He was not going to give up first, he was going to win this prank even if it would leave him getting his heart broken.

 

Date number four brought Louis to one of the poshest restaurants in London. No matter how much Louis had loved all the other dates and the effort Nick had gone through, the fact that they were going on a normal date calmed his nerves down quite a lot. Until he realised that this would mean seeing Nick in a suit, he wasn’t sure if that was something he could handle.

Nick looked gorgeous of course. Louis wanted him to wear suits all the time, especially if it meant that he could take it off later. He quickly shut down his thoughts and the feeling of want was quickly replaced with anger about the prank. This morning he had woken up feeling determined, this whole prank-thing was going to end tonight, he just couldn’t do it anymore. He was already in too deep and since his crush was pointless to begin with it was better to save himself from more pain.

So Louis did what he did best and that was making snarky comments in reply to whatever said. The mood between them dropped fast and their conversation became stilted, both of them closing off to each other. It was during desert that Louis decided to play a little game, rating all the guys on their looks in the restaurant. He deliberately rated all the guys who looked nothing like Nick the highest. When Nick with hesitation filling his voice asked Louis how he would rate him, Louis answered with a three.

After settling the bill, both paying for their own food and drinks they parted ways with a mumbled “See you later.” From Nick and Louis knew that this was it, it was over. He had won the prank, or something. Yet, as he watched Nick walk away he felt nothing else but an overwhelming sadness spreading through his bones and claiming a home in his heart. That night he cried himself to sleep.

The next morning Louis decided to torture himself a little bit more by listening to The Breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 while getting ready for a day in the studio with his boys. He had barely gotten any sleep and his eyes felt puffy from the lack of it and from all the crying he had done. God, he missed Nick and his stupid dates already. But he knew that it was for the best and that he came out of it with minimal damage to his heart. He’d gone through heartbreak before and he knew that the ache would become duller over time.

It was while he sat down on the kitchen island eating his cereal that the conversation happening on the radio caught his attention.

“You’re looking pretty rough today, Grimmy. Are you alright?” Matt Fincham asked.

“Yeah, I’m absolutely fine.” Came Nick’s answer. “You know what, I’m not actually. Let’s talk about this.” He quickly followed up his first answer. “There’s this guy, right? And we’ve gone on a few dates now and I’m absolutely crazy about him but he’s a complete douchebag, like he’s actually really mean and I don’t know what to do.”

Louis felt his stomach drop at that, what the hell was Nick talking about? He’d been dating some other guy who he was crazy about while going on dates with him too? This situation was getting more fucked up by the minute, this was even worse than Louis sleeping with some random girl. Nick was actually two timing him.

“Oh Grimmy, you don’t want to be with someone who’s mean.” Fiona replied.

Louis found himself agreeing with her advice, Nick deserved to be with someone nice. Even if that someone couldn’t be him.

“I know. But I’m so hung up about him, I kind of want to give it a chance even though I know it’s a bad idea. And like, I don’t even know if he’s into me.”

God, Louis felt sick. This guy must be great for Nick to want to give him a chance even though he’s an asshole.

“Well, maybe you should try and find out first whether he does or not?”

“That’s not a bad idea. There’s times I get the feeling he does, like, the other day we were on a date and we were on a farm playing with baby animals, puppies and such and he just, he kept looking at me. What does that mean?”

What? Holy shit, what? They had gone to a farm, they had played with puppies. What did that mean? Was Nick actually talking about him? It had to be, hadn’t he? He wouldn’t go on the same date with two people right? That just didn’t make any sense.

“He’s probably into you then, but Grimmy, if he’s mean to you don’t date him. You’ll end up hurt.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Like, there’s more fish in the sea right?”

“Absolutely, you’ll find someone nice.”

Louis was freaking out, he just didn’t understand what was happening. It was all a prank right? But if it was then Nick wouldn’t be talking about liking someone on the radio. And he had said that he really liked the guy he had been dating. Oh God, and Louis had completely fucked it up hadn’t he? What if Nick was actually serious about liking Louis and he had now blown his only chance?

He had to fix this, he liked Nick so much. What was he going to do? It had to be something good.

* * *

**Nick:** Nick had just gotten home and was cuddling Pig on the sofa. He’d had a horrible day at work, actually telling the nation that he had a crush on someone. Someone who definitely didn’t like him back. God, Louis had been so mean last night. Nick really didn’t know why he liked him.

Not only had Louis said some really hurtful stuff, he had also rated pretty much every guy and girl in that restaurant, giving out high numbers to everyone who looked completely different from how he looked. Louis had even gone and scored Nick a three. Why on earth had Nick ever thought this to be a good idea? It wasn’t and it had never been one to begin with. He had never stood a chance with Louis.

He buried his face into Pig’s side and was contemplating giving Harry a call to moan about how horrible Louis was, and that he’d gotten his heart broken or making himself some comfort tea when the doorbell rang. With a sigh he got up from the sofa and went to the front door, Pig trotting behind him, her nails clicking against the floor.

He had not been prepared for the surprise that was waiting for him in front of his house. Once he opened the door he found Louis standing in front of it wearing a gorgeous suit and holding a single red rose in his left hand.

“What -” Nick found that he couldn’t speak, too startled by Louis standing there.

“You’re a ten to me.” Louis blurted out, his eyes widening slightly, as if he didn’t mean to say that.

“Here, this is for you.” He awkwardly handed over the rose which Nick with some slight hesitance accepted. What was going on? Louis turned around and walked down the stairs that led up to Nick’s front door, it was only then that Nick noticed the string quartet behind Louis that softly started to play once Louis got to the last step.

Louis was standing next to a table that was set up for two. The table was covered with a dark blue tablecloth covered with gold stars, the bouquet was made up out of straw and on the plates were what looked like homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Louis held out one of the chairs for Nick with a blush on his cheeks. “Join me, please?” Nick could only gape at him in shock, what on earth was happening? He dumbly nodded before going down the stairs himself and sitting down on the chair that Louis was holding out for him. Once he was seated, Louis sat down in front of him looking very nervous.

“Okay, so, like, I’ve got some explaining to do?” Louis sounded insecure, as if he wasn’t sure if he could proceed.

“Please.”

“So, um, I should probably start at the beginning.” Louis started, his voice trembling. “I knew it was you, that it was you who was my blind date.” Which, okay? Nick was confused.

“I knew it was you, I read some things on Harry’s phone about us and the fans on Tumblr and it didn’t make sense. So I figured, it must be a prank right? Because you don’t even like me and it was fine because I would just get you and Harry back by being awful and ruining whatever the prank was. But then you caught me off guard with the dates and I -” Louis took a deep breath before continuing. “I loved going stargazing with you and you even studied to impress me. And I loved that you told me about sleeping with your stuffed toy because it made me feel like I could open up to you too. And that scared me.” Nick could only stare at Louis.

“And horses scare me too, I don’t know why Harry didn’t tell you that. But I thought the date turned out amazing and you just completely lit up when you saw the puppies and I just couldn’t stop staring at you.”

“I know I was an ass during the third date, but I’m a simple kind of guy, you don’t need to impress me with posh food. Like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would’ve been fine. And I know you went through all the effort of preparing the food for me and I completely ruined that.”

“And you’re a ten to me, not a three. You just scare me and especially because I thought you and Harry were pranking me but then I heard you on the radio this morning and I just.” Louis was a blushing mess, fidgeting with his fringe.

“It wasn’t a prank, it never was. Not to me.” Nick was dumbfounded and didn’t understand how Louis his brain worked, how had he not seen that Nick had been completely serious? He had been so obvious with his crush, he thought.

“I really like you, like, more than I’ve like anyone else before and I know I screwed up but I was wondering if you would consider giving me another chance?”

Nick looked at Louis who looked so insecure and nervous and all he could think about was kissing him, so that’s exactly what he did. He surged over the table, knocking over the straw bouquet in the process and cupped Louis face in both hands before kissing him, over and over again until they were both breathless from their giddy laughter.

“Thought you were going to propose to me, you idiot.”

“I was thinking about it,” Louis looked at him with bright eyes, laughter lines forming beside his eyes from how big his grin was. “but maybe we should try the dating part first, without any confusion. And more kissing.”

“Yeah, good plan.” Nick was able to get out before Louis pulled him in again. The string quartet played on and Pig was dancing around their feet and while Nick knew that they had more to discuss, right now in this moment he had never felt happier.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.


End file.
